Musings

Title: Musings
Fandom: Baldur’s Gate 3
Characters: Kithyra Storyweaver, Gale Dekarios, Blaidd Wolfheart
Pairing: Gale/Kitkat
Ratings:
Warnings:
Author Notes: N/A

Kithyra was glad that she didn’t have to talk to everyone at the camp. They were all too preoccupied with whatever they were doing. Astarion was reading something, Shadowheart praying, Lae’zel looked like she was meditating, Reymera was… somewhere and Blaidd was also sitting around as a wolf again. With everyone kind of doing their own thing, which allowed her to do her own thing.

It was only the second night after the Nautiloid crashed near the Emerald Grove. She was looking through her things and found a journal with a black cover and a piece of leather strapped around it. She brought it out and wasn’t quite sure what to do. She was torn with either throwing it away or burning it in the fire. She looked outside her tent to see Gale and Wyll chatting about something next to the fire. She opted to just keep it with her until she was able to dispose of it later. She wasn’t even sure if getting rid of it was worth it at the moment either.

“Thanks, Dad, for being the gift that keeps on giving.” She sighed as she walked out with it in her hand.

She wasn’t even sure what to do honestly. While she was friendly with the people in the camp, she wasn’t really friends with anyone. They had all just met and she’d love some advice on what to do but none of them knew her well enough to say anything. Not that she expected to. Dumping everything about your life to random people hardly did anyone any favors.

She let her feet take her to wherever they wanted to lead her really. She walked towards the camp. Going past Lae’zel and Astarion. Neither stopped what they were doing to talk to her, being too busy with their own activities. She stepped past Gale and Wyll, making her way to the nearby waterline. Withers was looking at some sort of scroll but she didn’t bother looking at it as she disappeared from view. She followed the water up to a deadend and sat down in the dirt. She looked at the journal and huffed at it.

“Stupid book.” She mumbled. “I should throw you away just to spite him but… what if…” She continued to mutter to herself for a bit before eventually giving up on it. She set it down in front of her but played with the leather strap between her fingers.

She was thinking of the argument she and her father got into before she was kidnapped by the Mind Flayers. It wasn’t anything that they hadn’t argued about before really. She was yelling at him for being a lecher and he was yelling at her for not being daring enough. Just super silly things really. Moving to Baldur’s Gate hadn’t really been worth the trouble since she left home. She wanted to get to know him better but it had been an unruly nightmare. He was always drunk and belligerent, he didn’t seem to care about what she wanted from him, and he was such a bore. She always expected her father to be the knight in shining armor her mother talked about when she was a kid. Not… whatever he actually was.

The book she had in her possession was her father’s. It had pages of women’s names on it. Some crossed out and some had extra notes written next to them. At least he seemed to care about the women he’s been with… in a twisted sense. That was a fun revelation she had from one of her neighbors in the city.

Right now though, it was just her only source of normalcy. Something that reminded her of what she had planned before being kidnapped by those Mind Flayers. She wanted to use it to find someone that looked like her. She spent most of her life surrounded by a family that didn’t really resemble her or her mother. She wouldn’t trade them for anything but she would like to know she had some actual relatives out there somewhere. This book was a way she could but… it had proven fruitless. No one in Baldur’s Gate cared to know the names or had an inkling on where she should start.

She looked at the black leather cover. It had no writing in it or anything of note. It was small enough to fit in her pocket if she desired. She had flipped through all the pages but the only thing of note were the names. There wasn’t anything else inside. She sighed as she looked at it again. She looked up to see her surroundings instead, not really seeing anything of interest.

“The book must be captivating.” A voice chuckled. Kithyra jumped, not expecting anyone to see what she was doing. She looked back to see Gale just smiling at her as he sat next to her.

“You spooked me.” She said, letting out a nervous laugh. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to well… chat with me.”

“I figured I’d return the favor from the other night.” He said and she gave him a blank stare. “By the fire…?”

“Oh! Right that.” She nodded. She had kinda forgotten about considering how wound up Shadowheart and Lae’zel were about her talking to him about their situation. “It wasn’t a big deal, really. You looked like you had something on your mind, so why not talk about it.”

“Hence me returning the favor.” He replied. “You look a bit forlorn.”

“Oh… uh…” She stammered. “Look, I know you’re trying to help but we did just meet like, literally the other day and we might be doomed to become Mind Flayers.”

“Fair however, with the latter in mind, all the more reason to go on without regrets, right?” He offered, although she wasn’t sure what to think. He seemed genuine but he also seemed pretty full of himself like some of the guards she used to know in the city. If they were going to turn into Mind Flayers, a shitty dad was going to be the least of her concerns honestly.

“This is just… family troubles.” She tried to explain. “I got into an argument with my dad before all this and this is his.”

“Is it a diary or something?” He asked.

“Something like that.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I dunno what to do with this thing. I thought it’d help me out but it’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

“But getting rid of it is out the question, I’m guessing?” He inquired. She didn’t say anything and just nodded her head. “Why not find a way to get rid of it later? There’s no real rush to do anything with it at the moment.”

“True…” She mused. “Maybe I can chuck it at him.” She imagined throwing it at her father and got a small chuckle out of it. Considering she had a little more strength than he did, he’d probably fold like paper. She saw Gale looking a little stymied out of the corner of her eye so she turned to him and waved a hand while shaking her head.

“Don’t worry about it, my dad’s a piece of shit anyways. The only thing he’s useful for is taking up space.” She said. She looked at the book again in her hand. Would telling someone about it be so bad? Although, she was reminded of her earlier comment about having literally met them the other day. She sighed again and shook her head.

“Maybe you’re right.” She said. “Maybe I should just sit on it and not really think about this for a bit. I’ll come up with a solution later… presuming we live that long.”

“You could always give it to Blaidd.” He suggested.

“I’m not sure what Blaidd would do with it honestly…” She muttered. “I don’t think he’d know what to do with it either.” A moment later, as if on cue, he appeared and looked rather attentive – much like a dog.

“You called?” Blaidd asked.

“Uh… no…?” She replied.

“Oh, I heard my name being mentioned.” He explained. “I guess I’ll go back to um… looking around the perimeter of the camp.”

“Careful, I think Lae’zel said she wanted to take first watch again.” Kithyra warned. “She and Astarion got into a heated staredown over it too.”

Blaidd just nodded and walked towards the treeline. Druids were strange people… or maybe it was just Blaidd… she wasn’t entirely sure which it was. Though she did get the sense he didn’t spend a lot of time around people. Either way, at least her dad’s stupid book wasn’t on her mind.

“I know just the thing!” Gale said as he got up and ran off somewhere.

“It’s like being around excitable children again…” She said to herself as she stood up. Although Gale returned a moment later with a plate of food in one hand and some silverware in the other.

“Eating something will make you feel better.” He said, looking rather proud.

“Oh…” She said as she took the plate. Couldn’t really turn it down since she was busy making sure everyone was situated earlier to actually eat. “Thanks.”

“Not a problem.” He said, looking rather chuffed yet again. “And don’t worry, Lae’zel was worried that I would tamper with the food, so it’s all good to go.”

“She really is the paranoid type, isn’t she?” She asked as she started making her way back towards the camp. Gale followed after her.

“Indeed.” He nodded. “I’m unsure if it’s a “her thing” or a Githyanki thing.”

“She did mention this is her first time in Faerûn so maybe a little of both?” She offered. She remembered being pretty apprehensive about the city when she first got there too. Might not be entirely the same but the whole “everything is new and strange” thing was a shared experience.

She walked past Wyll and Lae’zel’s tents – neither occupying them at the moment. Her tent was in the ruins nearby. Shadowheart and Karlach suggested that she should be in there considering she was the “team leader” as they put it. Kithyra didn’t really have it in her to argue with them, especially with how convinced Karlach looked about it when they set up camp. She’d prefer to be closer to them but with Wyll and Lae’zel being her closest neighbors, she knew she didn’t have much to worry about either. She looked at Gale as she stopped next to the fallen tree that led to the ruins.

“Thanks for trying to help me out, by the way.” She said. “I know I really didn’t explain what the book’s about but maybe later. I’ll make sure to clean this all up when I’m done though. The food smells great.”

“Always a delight to hear.” He said as he turned to walk away.

Gale really was a strange person. She didn’t know many wizards honestly, so she couldn’t really compare and contrast. Although with what she knew about the tales of many of them… maybe he was like them? She wasn’t sure honestly. There was a loud noise that tore her from her thoughts and she looked over to the other side of camp. Blaidd, who had turned into a cat, was speeding off like his life depended on it. Astarion was seen trying to chase him around.

“You know, I actually don’t wanna know.” She just walked towards her tent and let the issue resolve itself.